Senator Jacqui Lambie lists Newstart boost, anti-corruption watchdog as 2020 priorities

Senate powerbroker Jacqui Lambie has unveiled her top priorities for 2020, vowing to ramp up pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison over Newstart.

Jacqui Lambie in the Senate. Picture: AAP

JACQUI Lambie will ramp up pressure on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to raise the Newstart welfare payment as one of her top priorities this year.

The Tasmanian senator said “dignity for the underdog” would be her big focus as she outlined her goals for 2020 in an exclusive interview with the Mercury before Parliament resumes on Tuesday.

After securing a deal to wipe Tasmania’s $157 million housing debt last year, the Senate powerbroker also wants to clean up Canberra by throwing her weight behind calls for a national anti-corruption watchdog.

It comes as minister Bridget McKenzie and the Morrison Government have been embroiled in a $100 million sports rorts scandal for more than two weeks.

Jacqui Lambie has outlined her top priorities for 2020. Picture: AAP

“There’s a lot on the to-do list,” Senator Lambie said.

“We’ve got a Government that calls our veterans heroes and a government department that treats them like criminals.

“We’ve got bushfires burning all over the country and politicians are squawking over which political party is most to blame for them.

“We’ve got kids leaving Tassie because there aren’t the jobs or the vocational training options we need.

“And the ones that can’t get jobs are living on breadcrumbs because we don’t give them enough help to feed themselves, let alone their families.”

But Senator Lambie said: “If your focus is everything, you don’t focus on anything. So for me, 2020’s about bringing some integrity into Parliament and some dignity for the underdog.”

She said parliament would have “wasted a year” if it did not do anything to change political donation laws or lobbying regulations, or launch a federal anti-corruption watchdog.

Pauline Hanson talking with Senator Jacqui Lambie at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

“The public’s sick of it and it’s getting worse. Canberra needs a stiff broom and I’m going to work damn hard to make 2020 the year it gets it,” she said.

Senator Lambie vowed to use her influence to push for the Government to “do something” about the Newstart welfare payment, which is currently $559 a fortnight, or about $40 a day.

It’s understood she will look at different options to boost the payment, not just increasing the rate.

Prime Minister Morrison has so far rejected all calls to raise the rate, despite key figures including former Liberal prime minister John Howard and outspoken Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce joining the push.

The Australian Council of Social Service earlier this week updated its call for the rate to be increased by $95 a week, instead of $75, citing rising food, rent and medical costs.

Senator Lambie said she would push “everyone I need to in the government, one by one if I have to” to improve the payment.

“No more of this ‘the best form of welfare is a job’ crap. That’s like saying the best form of chemotherapy is not having cancer,” she said.

“The fact they keep wheeling that line out with a straight face, and they use it to justify not doing anything, is just a shocker.

“We’ve got to do something here and I’ll be making that point as politely as I can.”

About 20,200 Tasmanians and 680,000 Australians receive Newstart, according to the latest figures.